“We wanted it to be visible from two roads, and also the lighting in the sign behind it was lighting up the banner at night,” the Rev. Amy Shaw said.

People who drove past the Lake Country Unitarian Universalist Church in Hartland recently could not have missed the banner on the lawn that read "Black Lives Matter.”

Sometime between Sunday and Monday somebody cut out the word "black.”

"We were prepared for this kind of violence, you know? One of the horrific things about engaging in social justice work is that you do it always with the thought in the back of your mind, “Are they going to set fire to it? Are they going to throw paint on it? Are they going to cut it up?’” Shaw said.

Shaw said her congregation decided it was worth the risk of taking a stand.

Sunday was the anniversary of Michael Brown's death, an unarmed black teen killed by a white police officer in Ferguson.

"Michael Brown laid in the street for four and a half minutes. His family saw him lying there bleeding, white discomfort against black people dying in the street. There's no comparison between those two things, so we are willing to make people uncomfortable,” Shaw said.

The church had planned to leave the sign up for another three or four weeks, but now it’s not certain what it's going to do. Shaw said the church will continue to promote its original message.

The incident was reported to the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department for investigation.